"How?" Solomon asked, immediately standing up straight.

"It involves the crown," the Paladin stated.

Solomon frowned. "What does a crown have to do with my talent?"

"You must understand the true structure of our history," the Paladin explained, his tone shifting into a somber register. "Since the ancient times, gods have directly ruled the world. Every single kingdom worshipped and served their own specific deity. When these nations clashed, the conflicts were not mere territorial disputes. They were Holy Wars, orchestrated entirely by the heavens."

Solomon crossed his arms. "And what does this history lesson have to do with awakening my ability?"

The Paladin suddenly grew incredibly serious. He looked around the empty white canvas as if checking for eavesdroppers, even though they were the only two souls in the void. "This is a secret that no ordinary mortal should ever know. I only learned the truth because Emilia, my wife, was the princess of Eden. This knowledge is strictly guarded by the royal bloodlines."

Solomon dropped his arms to his sides, his curiosity completely overriding his physical exhaustion.

The Paladin paused for a long moment, seemingly weighing the gravity of his next words before breaking the silence. "Angels are direct creations of the gods, meaning they carry pure divine blood in their veins. When a god forms a physical union with an angel, the resulting child is born into the Holy Bloodline. They are essentially demigods."

Solomon held his breath.

"When someone from that Holy Bloodline has a child with a mortal human," the Paladin continued, "their offspring form the Royal Bloodline."

Solomon widened his eyes in absolute shock as the pieces instantly clicked together in his mind.

’The ruling families actually possess the literal blood of gods,’ Solomon realized, feeling a sharp chill run down his spine.

The terrifying revelation answered questions he hadn’t even known to ask. It explained why the monarchs held such unshakeable, absolute power across the modern world. It perfectly justified their monstrously strong innate talents, their absurd physical skills, and their total dominance over the ordinary population.

They were not just chosen by the heavens, their biology was literally divine, even if the ichor had been diluted over the passing centuries.

The Paladin watched the realization wash over Solomon’s face before adding a final piece to the puzzle. "Furthermore, when a member of the Royal Bloodline has relations with an ordinary human, their child inherits a much weaker fraction of that divinity. They form the Noble Bloodlines." 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

The Paladin rested his hands over the pommel of his sword and steered the conversation back to the awakening method. "The crowns worn by the kings are holy artifacts passed down through the generations. However, the true power does not reside in the gold itself. It lies entirely within the central gemstone. It is a crystallized tear of divine essence. If you physically ingest that gem, the concentrated holy power will violently force your dormant talent to awaken."

Solomon stared at him for a long moment. "You seriously want me to swallow a magic rock?"

The Paladin gave a single nod.

"Setting aside the severe choking hazard," Solomon continued, dragging a hand down his face, "the Kingdom of Eden collapsed roughly seven hundred years ago. There is absolutely no way a priceless crown is still just sitting around waiting to be eaten. Looters would have stripped the palace bare centuries ago."

"The crown is safely sealed inside a hidden vault deep beneath the palace ruins," the Paladin assured him. "I will give you the exact coordinates of the chamber. The looters never found it because the vault doors were forged to open exclusively for someone carrying the Eden bloodline." A brief pause hung in the air as the Paladin looked down at the invisible floor. "And that bloodline no longer exists."

Solomon crossed his arms. "If the door only opens for royal blood, and the royals are all dead, how exactly am I supposed to get inside?"

"You will use my sword," the Paladin replied.

He lifted his executioner’s sword from the void and held it out. "Once you slay my undead corpse outside, you must claim my weapon. Because you lack the holy blood, it will violently resist your touch. It will attempt to reject your soul. However, if you continuously channel the Imperial Sword Arts while wielding it, the blade will eventually recognize your mastery and accept you as a legitimate successor."

The Paladin lowered the weapon back to his side. "Once the blade acknowledges your authority, you can use it as a master key to unlock the royal vault."

A brilliant, blinding light erupted from the Paladin’s pristine armor. The intense glow rapidly expanded across the white void, wrapping completely around Solomon’s body. The inheritance process began instantly.

A massive torrent of foreign knowledge, muscle memory, and combat theory flooded directly into Solomon’s mind without causing a single shred of pain.

Solomon lowered his silver longsword and looked at the fading figure. "Thank you."

He hesitated for a fraction of a second as the light pulsed around them. "Why didn’t you actually fight in the Holy War? You possessed mastery over the blade. If you had stayed and fought instead of escaping with the princess, the entire outcome might have changed. Maybe no one would have had to die."

The Paladin let out a soft, echoing sigh. He dropped his guard completely and looked at the boy. "I am entirely certain that you have never been in love with anyone."

Solomon clamped his mouth shut and remained completely silent.

"That war was never going to end with us winning, nor was it going to end with a victory for the heavens," the Paladin explained gently. "It was only ever going to end in the destruction of the kingdom. The gods demanded a slaughter, and that is exactly what happened. I simply chose to save my own world instead of dying for a doomed throne."

The blinding light surged one final time, completely etching the Eden Imperial Sword Arts into Solomon’s very soul. He did not just inherit the physical techniques. A heavy, suffocating wave of foreign emotions crashed over his heart.

He felt the Paladin’s profound love for Emilia, the agonizing grief of his loss, and the sheer, consuming weight of his boundless rage. Thousands of days of memories and feelings seamlessly merged with Solomon’s own consciousness.

As the transfer completed, the massive executioner’s sword resting in the Paladin’s gauntlet slowly began to dissolve into mist.

"It has been exactly five thousand four hundred and seventy-three days since I pulled your mind into this domain," the Paladin noted, watching his own armored fingers start to fade away. "Our time together is finally ending."

The Paladin looked up, his white visor locking onto Solomon’s face. "Before I disappear completely... may I know your actual name?"

Solomon shifted awkwardly on his feet and rubbed the back of his neck. He genuinely did not feel like revealing his name, fully aware of how ridiculous the shared identity would sound.

However, he was staring at a man who had just sacrificed the last embers of his soul to grant him a priceless legacy. Denying the final request felt entirely wrong.

"It’s Solomon," he muttered.

The Paladin completely froze. The corrupted golden light inside his visor flared with absolute shock. A second later, a deep, booming laugh echoed across the collapsing canvas.

"Solomon," the Paladin repeated, his voice shaking with genuine amusement as his legs dissolved into the white mist. "What a remarkable coincidence. But then again, there are no coincidences in this world."

The Paladin’s laughter faded alongside his armor. The endless white void instantly shattered like fragile glass, completely replaced by a suffocating, pitch-black darkness.

Solomon gasped sharply, and his eyes snapped open.

❖ ❖ ❖

N/N- This is one of the lore drops I have been eagerly waiting to write and reveal. Bloodlines and families will be important in the story. This was why important figures like princess and royals have been mentioned and introduced so early in the story. Of course, that includes the paladin’s story too.